Feral versus Fearful Cats

Our resident cats, Nellie and her daughter Polly, arrived almost two years ago thanks to friends who found a starving, half-dead adolescent cat in their yard. They took her in and nursed her back to health–which included discovering that she was pregnant, helping her raise five kittens and finding them all wonderful homes. No one ever wondered if Nellie had been a feral cat: She walked up to the first person she saw and began rubbing and purring, behavior that she continues to this day. If you came to visit the farm she would behave as if you are the most wonderful thing that has happened to her all week. Nellie, the feline Labrador.

That same summer, as some of you may remember, I also had a pregnant cat show up on the farm. She was so secretive that I didn’t know she was there until I saw the tail of a three-week old kitten disappear down a hole in the barn. (You can read the first part of the story here and learn more about how to manage feral kittens here.) I eventually trapped and found homes for 4 of the kittens, and hoped to socialize momma and keep one of her kittens as barn cats. The rodent population was exploding in the barn and I needed help. It’s never good when you walk into your barn and a rat stares directly into your eyes and doesn’t even try to scamper away. But this momma cat had other plans. After recovering from a spay surgery (thanks to Dane County Friends of Ferals), she did all she could to lure her remaining kitten away from the barn into the woods. She was literally like a wild animal: she did her best to stay hidden from us, and always ran away if we happened to find her out in the open. No amount of tossed chicken or patient sitting beside her kittens was enough to lure her toward us. So who could blame her? From her perspective, I killed 4 of her kittens, then trapped, terrified, and mutilated her. Not a good first date.

Two pregnant female cats, two very different stories. One well-socialized cat who is currently loved and cared for, and one unsocialized, clearly feral cat who melted into the woods and hasn’t been seen since. But what if both of those cats had been trapped and taken to an unfamiliar place, perhaps a rescue or a shelter? How differently would they have behaved then? Both cats might have been extremely fearful for the first few days, so how would one distinguish a truly feral, unsocialized cat from one who is afraid of a new environment but is comfortable with people?

This is the question asked by Margaret Slater, DVM, PhD and Emily Weiss at the ASPCA. How does one know if a cat is afraid of a new environment or afraid of a new environment AND of people? Note the question is NOT “Is this cat adoptable?”, or “Is this cat aggressive?”, the question is: Has this cat been socialized or not? This is an important question when one wants to find an appropriate home for a cat, whether in a shelter or found in someone’s backyard.

The authors evaluated almost 300 cats in a shelter setting for 3 days and evaluated their behavior over 4 observation periods. Some cats were owned and well-socialized and just “loaned” to the shelter for the study, while other cats had been found as strays. They conducted behavioral assessments that included extending a hand toward the cat, jiggling a toy in front of the cat and stroking it with a spatula (a firm but flexible object).

Here is a brief summary of some of their findings, but you can read more about it and also watch a free webinar from Dr. Slater about the study on the ASPCApro website. I watched it last week and found it fascinating.

Some behaviors that might seem relevant were not good predictors of whether a cat was socialized or not. For example, growling and hissing, especially on the first day, was done by both groups of cats relatively equally. However, the study found that only well-socialized cats did any one of the following, even if only once in all observation periods: Chirp, Rub, Knead, Touch or Play. In other words, only the owned cats did any of those behaviors within three days of coming to the shelter. Thus, two cats could huddle in the back of the cage, hissing and growling on day one, but if on day three one cat chirped to an approaching person, began to rub against the spatula or play with the object, then you could accurately assume it was indeed a well-socialized cat who had been someone’s pet. This then, would indicate that once it had become comfortable in a new environment, the cat would do well as a pet in someone’s home. Truly feral cats are simply never going to flourish in a busy household, and deserve not to spend the rest of their life hiding under someone’s bed. Exactly where IS best for them depends on many factors, but a home with five children under the age of 12 isn’t going to be a kind solution for a truly feral cat.

MEANWHILE, back on the farm: This is all highly relevant, because there are now three, count them THREE, stray cats visiting the farm with increasing frequency. A black, a black and white, and a creamy orange who I recently saw strolling into my garage as if he owned it. Sigh. I will be checking with neighbors soon, and at least making sure that the cats are spayed or neutered. If not, and if they are truly strays, I’ll trap them and have them neutered. We don’t need any more feral cats wandering the woods in southern Wisconsin.

Our cats appear to be thrilled that the weather has moderated. They are spending lots of time playing with each other and dashing up tree trunks. But they still love sleeping in the garage. Here’s Momma Nellie in her “igloo,” where she and Polly spent much of the winter curled up on top of the heating pad we added once the temperature went under zero at night.

This is not exactly a typical portrait of a cat, but I was intrigued by Polly’s ability to turn her head almost 180 degrees with little visible effort. I keep looking back at the photo to help my brain sort it out. (Don’t worry, her head didn’t keep going around 360 degrees. An exorcism was not required.)

Comments

Is it possible for a cat to be minimally feral? I got my cat when she was about 3 months old and I am single living in my home. My cat, Paris, hid for about the first year I had her and if I even attempted to hold her she would scramble until I let her go. Eventually I found she only liked being pet around her back end and of course her being rubbed on her jaws, and that was only the “lucky” attempts when I would approach her. I did however, let her outside a few months after I got her and she would always return home for her wet food I would give her in the morning that she adored.

Then when she was about 3 she got hit by a car or had a pretty bad head injury because she came home with her eye coming out of her head. I quickly rushed her to the ER at 2AM and when she came home and was better she was SO much cuddlier. She started letting me hold her for longer periods of time, she would sit on my lap and I noticed when she would lay nearby she would relax totally not just being on all fours ready to pounce if needed. I thought this was really interesting.

Now she is 5 and still doesn’t like being held for more than 30 seconds and even that time frame is for me not for her =) She will lay on my lap sometimes but I think she enjoys laying in my vicinity more than anything. She does love my dog though. I got my dog when she was about 2 and now she completely adores him. When we come home for walks she will rub circles around his legs and will attempt to lay by him at night. My dog just get up and walks away – I think it’s so funny how much she shoes affection for him yet, he could do without her.

In 2005 we adopted 3 cats, one male who was 6 months old and a love bug, Mr Personality plus, he wanted his own pets and could not understand why we would not let him bring his live caught mice in to put in the closet for his pet. He was special in every way. Pookie was called Spookie then, it took a good 6 months to get her where she relaxed in the house. Now she is Miss Precilla puff who thinks she should have satin pillows. Max was another thing. Spookie was scared of people and could learn not to be but Max was a feral male. It was more than a year before we dared to let him outside or he would have run off. He bonded so strongly to BT, Mr Personality that he always came in to be with him but no people near him thanks. The neighbors dogs ( they have 29 acres ) came over and caught our wonderful BT right by our deck and killed him. Within a week, Max refused to come in anymore and we only see a fleeting glimpse of him now. We also have 2 younger cats. Elcee was dumped here as a kitten and found her way under our porch. She was almost dead from dehydration. I pulled her through that and kept her right with me. She soon will be two and is my shadow and feels safe in any situation if I am there including saying hello to all visitors. Wylie was a kitten from a feral cat born in our shop. We closed the shop so they could not get out and I started visiting the kitten until he was old enough to be weaned. We then trapped the mom and had her spayed and locked her back up for two weeks then opened the cat door to the shop and she did keep coming back for the food and warmth but will not let you catch more than a glimpse of her. Wylie is a strange cat. he will be one year old tomorrow and he acts like any normal pet cat 90% of the time and then it is like he can see ghosts and it terrifies him. All so different, All with individual personalities that bring so much joy into our lives.

Interesting study. Both my kitties were adopted (two years apart) from the same shelter in Montana long ago. Bailey was an Owner Turn-In but Baxter was “rescued from a field where he’d been abandoned”. Not “seen being tossed from a passing car” or actually being otherwise PLACED in that field. And I wondered (months later, after I’d gotten to know him better) if he hadn’t actually been somebody’s barn cat who’d had the bad luck to be out hunting in a field when some well-meaning soul drove by, assumed he was Lost, scooped him up and took him to the closest (80 miles away) shelter. Baxter never really has been terribly affectionate (until lately as he’s getting up there to 12 or 14 years of age), clean in the house but preferred to hang out in his Man Cat Cave in the garage, detatched from the house, except once or twice a day when he comes in through the Flip Door for food and water.

Hadn’t given it much thought BUT I don’t recall that he did any of the behaviours (rub, touch, play, knead, chirp) the first few years he was with me. He’d allow himself to be held — under protest (paws planted on my chest, pushing himself away), and only for a little while. He’d allow some petting and brushing — but never returned the favor in any form although he has not been a biter, hiss-er, or claw-er. Eventually he made his peace with Bailey, the Mistress of the House who was and remains the First Cat. She allows him space on one of the loveseats and, rarely, to sleep on a corner of the bottom of the bed.

Yogi (dog) has become Baxter’s Special Friend the past two years or so, even though they don’t speak the same language. Baxter will stroll into the house and allow himself to be sniffed all over by Yogi. I think this is Yogi’s “where have you been and what have you been doing?” greeting and information gathering. Then Baxter will rub his head on Yogi’s chest and chin, which always causes Yogi to look at me with an anxious expression as if to ask “must I allow this?” before throwing himself on his back in a cat’s invitation to play. Which confuses Yogi completely as he will get up and walk around him, inspecting Baxter further for any injuries or reason as to why he’s suddenly flung himself down.

Baxter never has understood Play, has never chirped though he does purr when he’s pleasure kneading now, has learned to be comfortable with touching and rubbing from me, but doesn’t offer it himself. He’s a big boy, at least part Maine Coon Cat, and I think that temperament accounts for the sociability that he has learned since he’s been with me, but I will always wonder if he wasn’t somebody’s barn cat — not well socialized but at least somewhat comfortable around people —- who was kidnapped from that field. Cat-napped.

My dog give me the same facial expressions when my cat sniffs and rub him all over especially when we are back from walks =) My dog has never been very playful with other dogs and doesn’t really like the interactions with other dogs but he tolerates my cat. Needless to say he gets lots of treats and praise for his tolerant behavior =)
Rosemary

A very interesting study. Tilly-cat was returned by her first adopters for being “too wild and feral”. Her foster family worked hard on socialising her, but told me that she was not exactly your average house kitten, and when she came to me at around 14 weeks she was still a little scatty, and much more interested in Pippin, my other cat, than in humans. She is now self proclaimed Empress of the Universe, expecting homage from humans, dogs, cars, etc, etc, and very affectionate indeed. I think that as a kitten she just had much more interesting things to do than sit around being cuddled by humans, while now it is a pleasant way of relaxing after a long day of subduing fields and hedgerows, decimating the local rabbit population, and bestowing the favour of her presence upon such humans as she might meet!

That answers some questions about a (sadly deceased) cat. I named her Smoke because for a while I’d only see glimpses of her gray self in the bamboo. She finally tamed down enough so she’d come and eat at the house and I could gently lift her about a foot in the air. But more than a brief petting was not allowed.

This was several years on and she’d come into heat-there were never any kittens but it was time. So I carrier trapped her and took her off to get spayed. Back at the house she knew who had done this trauma to her-the BIG DOG! She would now sit on my lap(!?!) and purr and be carried around(!!?!!) but for a month the poor dog couldn’t cross the room without her going after him to attack! Which was double sad for him because he loved cats.( I have a cat that 10 years after the Big Dog’s death is still annoyed the current dogs won’t ‘pet’ him like dogs should.)

So I’m thinking little Smoke was probably not born and raised feral-just something went very wrong early in her life.

Hmm, well. My own experiences are rather the exception, I think. My first cat was adopted at seven weeks old, a snuggly, playful kitten who grew into a ferociously proud and standoffish cat- deeply interested in humans, calm and unafraid in our presence, but unwilling to be handled except in the most limited way and quick to respond with a hiss or a smack (usually claws retracted, but she’ll escalate to a full-on rage eventually) if we dare overstep. It took weeks of dedicated positive reinforcement to get her to the point where she’ll tolerate being picked up and held for thirty seconds.

My second cat was feral, born under my grad-student front porch to a feral mother. I didn’t even catch a glimpse of her until she was at least seven weeks old. My apartment mate and I put out food for the kittens and Mama cat (feral herself and a spectacularly good hunter who was seldom seen without a mouse or squirrel but who was still ravenously grateful for the food). Several weeks later, the litter of kittens started displaying very individual temperaments. Two of the four were typically feral, skittish and cautious. The other two were different. One was the single bravest cat I’ve ever seen- as a ten week kitten, I saw her hiss and smack at a full-grown intact tom cat who had come creeping toward her food. Sadly, she was struck by a car only a few weeks later ( she had taken to not moving when cars approached), but her sister (these two kittens looked strikingly similar to one another), slightly more fearful than bravekitty, nevertheless started approaching humans sitting on the porch only a few days after we started feeding her. She was a little fearful at first, preferring to approach from behind, and shy of hands extending toward her, but she started ducking under elbows almost at once, purring and seeking petting. It seemed like normal kitten behavior to me, and at the time I had no idea how unusual it was.

Cutting a long story short, I took her in when she was about four months old. Born feral, untouched during the critical socialization window, never having lived indoors or had more than a few moments at a time of human contact. You’d never have known. She adjusted almost at once, though I had to put leaves in her litter box at first, and is a total Velcro kitty, curled in my lap at this very instant, in fact. She readily bonded with me, my roommate, my husband, a couple of my close friends, and shows her snuggly, affectionate disposition to anybody who spends significant time in my house. She is one of the most affectionate, gentle, and affiliative cats I’ve ever met.

No one would be able to tell, based on Fiona the feral’s behavior, that she was not born and raised a pet. I can only assume that she and her late, brave sister inherited a special tendency to docility and friendliness (her other sister showed typically feral behavior- barely allowing herself to be touched after a solid year of feeding.) Perhaps a lower than normal production of stress hormones? or some kind of neurological difference? I’d love to know the answer!

When my 3 kids were little, with the oldest being about 7, we ended up with a rescue cat. It turned out that a woman I knew had a cat who had been living in her basement for 3 years. She had gotten the cat as a kitten. A few weeks later, a new roommate moved in with an adult cat who terrorized the kitten. Since they didn’t know to do, they ended up keeping the kitten in the basement. Forever. The cat at age 3 avoided everyone, and scratched when they picked it up, so they had decided to euthanise it. I said, surprising everyone including myself, that I would take him. I had never seen the cat, and hadn’t previously known of his existence, but there we were.

So for the next 2 years, we lived with an invisible cat. The cat had free run of the house, and the kids were told to ignore him. Eventually he got to where he would come and sit at one end of the sofa when I was sitting at the other, but as soon as a child came into the room, he ran out again. I found a friend who came once year and literally trapped the cat and took him to the vet, which I hoped would prevent any associations between me and unpleasantness.

At that time, I used to read to the kids every night, usually in the youngest one’s room. One night, about two and a half years after Charlie had moved in, I looked up from the book and saw him sitting in the doorway, apparently listening to the story! This continued for 4 nights in a row. On the fifth night, he quite deliberately walked across the room, jumped onto the bed, and lay next to me while I finished reading.

And from then on, he was a regular housecat. He would move around the house as we did, hang out on the sofa with the kids, sleep on the end of the bed.

I have no idea what changed his threat assessment. I had been reading in the same way since before he’d arrived, so it wasn’t anything particularly new in my behaviour. Maybe it was just the change from the oldest kid being 7 to the youngest being 6. Most likely it was just time.

He lived another 10 years, and I think it was a pretty happy life. He never much wanted to be petted, and he didn’t engage in direct play, but he chose to be near us more often than not, and he did enjoy catching the Hot Wheels race cars my boys would set up in the living room.

I think he would have “failed” the assessment at every stage of his tenure with us, including after he started moving into the rooms that we were in. But he was much more than a cat who just happened to live in the same house with us. We loved him, and he came to prefer our company to an empty room. In later years we installed a dog door, and he would sometimes sun himself on the patio, then come back in.

He reminded me most of the barn cats of my youth. They were always independent and most didn’t much like to be touched, but they did enjoy the company of people, and they were clearly living where they were by choice. And most, by the way, fed themselves through hunting. They got some treats occasionally, but they weren’t hanging around to get their meals.

These days, we are so used to a culture of “pet parents” and cats who are cuddled and carried and fed gourmet meals on designer plates I wonder if we have lost an understanding of cats for whom every aspect of that assessment would seem foreign? There have always been some cats who enjoyed being petted and sitting on laps, but I’m not sure they’ve ever been expected to be the majority until now.

That’s not a criticism, just an observation. Cats, like dogs, are becoming a nonworking class. And we have begun to think it natural to judge them on their ability to satisfy our emotional needs, rather than any functional tasks. It’s an interesting change.

I spent 13 yrs working at an all feline shelter in Chicago. At any one time we had between 200-300 cats residents. Within 2-5 days it became easy to tell which cats were truly feral and which were strays. Some of the strays did fine with other cats and some obviously preferred humans to cats, but the truly feral cats all seemed to love other cats!

I helped institute a program to socialize the feral cats. The reasoning behind this wasn’t to get them adopted, but to make it less stressful for them if they needed exams, vaccines or other veterinary care. It didn’t make sense to have to sedate a cat for its annual exam and vaccines. And if it was sick we wouldn’t be able to medicate it if we couldn’t touch it. We housed them together in a separate area where there was less traffic from potential adopters. We had a group of volunteers designated to work with them on a regular basis using a protocol I helped create. Little by little the program worked and many of these “unadoptable” cats have even been adopted!

So even though I used to think feral cats would always be feral, I proved myself wrong!

There are many shelters who label cats as feral on day one, which I think is ridiculous. It’s also important to keep in mind that while a cat that plays, chirps, interacts, etc. with a person within three days can be reliably said to be domesticated, a cat who does NOT do those things within three days cannot be said to be feral.

I am very, very certain that if my Jonas ever ended up in a shelter, he would NOT be calm enough to be handled or show signs of being socialized within three days. Jonas is in fact a ‘reformed’ feral. Indeed, being feral saved his life…his aggression convinced me that this incredibly sickly little kitten had the will to fight and survive. Even with his eyes oozing out of his head, he still did his best to bite my hand.

Because he was so very ill for such a long time, he became socialized by force. He was handled daily by many people, but I was the one who spent time just sitting and playing with him. As a result, he’s very much a one-person cat. I can’t turn around without tripping over him. I’m the only person he purrs at, the only person he cuddles with, and the only person who can safely medicate him.

Remove this once-upon-a-feral, blind cat from the only familiar environment and the only familiar person he’s even known, and he’s going to revert back to that screeching little kitten. I just can’t imagine he would calm down in only three days. I suppose that raises the question of how one defines a feral cat…can a cat be said to be feral if they would require a great deal of work and time to become socialized toward new people, even if they HAD been socialized in the past?

My other cat would be frightened in a shelter, but I do believe she would show signs of warming up in three days. She’s a well-socialized, ordinary housecat who pretty much loves anyone with hands.

I think the shelter environment would be a factor as well. One of the local shelters is raising money to renovate the cat section. They cite studies indicating that over the longer term, cats housed in colonies ( a shared area of half a dozen to a dozen compatible cats) would withstand the shelter experience better. Of course some initial isolation is necessary to rule out illness. But some cats end up being sheltered for months or a year or longer, and a more social setting (than individual cages) is less stressful.

I got a British short hair from a breeder 14 weeks ago, it was in a cattery at the bottom of garden and she showed me her through a window, after l got her home l was sure that the cat she showed me l think was her mother. It had been much bigger and had a lot of fur on its head .She had said the one l was having was the smallest when born so kept her longer, she was 14 months old when i got her. When we got home she ran and hid for a month in my bedroom in a corner were l could not see her she eat well was clean used a scratching post, this was done when i was asleep at night. I couldn’t and still can’t get 3 ft from her as she is so jumpy and if l stand up or move she runs to the bedroom. I have done everything, used Feliway talked to her, the only thing she never gets tired of is ‘ The cat me-ow’ plays ages with it. But when it stops she runs back to the bedroom. Six weeks ago she rubbed up to my leg and l was so happy thought we had turned a corner but nothing else happened
She needs to be spayed but can’t pick her up to put in the carrier, it doesn’t help with me being disabled and can’t walk only a few steps.
I have bonded with her but now l don’t seem to be getting any further with her and l don’t think she will be a lap cat but just hope she comes up to me and will let me stroke her. I seem to have hit a brick wall and don’t know what else to do. She won’t play wth the feathers on sticks as there nearer to me but loves the big toys and plays in the evening at other end of room.
She looks at me with fear in her eyes which l hate to see, l do the blinking and closing my eyelids but when i look at her she is looking at me and l can see her thinking ‘ what ever is she doing’. Anyone got any other things l can try.
Jilly

Hi Jilly,
Just wondering how you’ve got on with your kitty , and if any – or how much progress has been made? I have acquired a Bengal cat (almost 2 years old) who was purchased for the purpose of breeding, by the previous owner – but as time went on, it became obvious she was infertile. The breeders then decided to re home her – which is how i have come to have her. I was told she was sweet, but timid. But upon getting her, I had the most terrified cat! She hid, (and managed to run away for 4 days) wasn’t eating, and when i found her it was like holding a cat with rigamortis. Seven weeks have passed, thankfully she now comes inside and is looking in beautiful condition. She gives me a very wide berth, and if she thinks I am coming too close to her, she will run and hide. I am able to pet her, if she is fast asleep on the chair, and does now seem to like this, but overall i am still met with distrust. The previous owner has told me she did have human contact, also telling me when she had kitty, she would race up a tree, race back down into the previous owners arms, and then up the tree again! She told me she was a really funny cat. I have seen no signs of anything she has told me. My question to anyone out there is “Is this normal behavior for a re homed cat? (I have previously re homed an 8yr old and an almost 1 yr old cat and have never experienced this) I am beginning to wonder if the previous owner hasn’t been completely honest, and that this cat hasn’t been socialised, and wondered what others thoughts were out there? I am also beginning to think the previous owner may have danced in circles at getting rid of a very unsociable cat, what are others thoughts? Also, one of the previous cats I re homed was a Bengal, and we never had any problems with her, she was simply delightful. Interested to hear others thoughts. Amelia

I got a 1 1/2 year old female cat from a lady who rescues cats. I have hat this cat now for 10 days and I feel frustrated, that she’ll come out at night and curl up with me on my bed, but in the day time she is like a phantom, she hides under my bed and does not come out until I go to bed. Only than will she try to play and want to be petted. She will hide from me from the time it gets light until I go to bed.
Will she ever change? Maybe I am to impationed

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Patricia B. McConnell, PhD, CAAB is an applied animal behaviorist who has been working with, studying, and writing about dogs for over twenty-five years. She encourages your participation, believing that your voice adds greatly to its value. She enjoys reading every comment, and adds her own responses when she can.

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